Cardroom and video gaming involve many games, including multi-tiered wagering games. Such games provide a player with the opportunity to place a side bet on an additional game played in conjunction with a basic or underlying game. These cardroom games and video games may be located at a plurality of remote locations and be connected to each other to provide a large number of players an opportunity to play for a large common cash prize.
Prior art apparatus for automatically sensing the presence of gaming tokens used in cardroom and video gaming has several problems: (1) the indication of false positives; (2) a lack of provision for conveniently verifying that the bets have been properly registered by a computer to which the sensing apparatus is attached; and (3) the elimination of chips from circulation.
First, registering an unplaced bet costs the proprietor of the cardroom or video gaming facility money. Currently, in the cardroom and video gaming industry, some apparatus uses light sensors to detect the presence of a gaming token. When light sensors are used to detect the presence of a gaming token, the apparatus often falsely registers an unplaced bet as a placed bet because lint from the felt on the gaming table is sensed by the light sensors creating a false positive. Also, ambient light from the light sources in the facility may influence the light sensor and cause a false negative or lack of registration due to a marginal signal. Thus, an apparatus which will eliminate both false positive registrations and false negative registration failures would be very helpful in the cardroom and video gaming industry.
Second, cardroom and video gaming facilities need to verify that all wagers are properly registered by the computer. In order to have a secondary verification, a camera has been traditionally used. However, current apparatus does not provide a camera with a visual indication of whether the bet was registered. Consequently, an apparatus which allows a casino or proprietor of a cardroom and video gaming facility to be able to visually verify the registration of a properly placed bet is highly desirable.
Third, some current apparatus has a slot with a light sensor to detect the presence of a gaming token as it passes through the slot. In addition to the problems associated with the use of a light sensor described above, such apparatus takes the gaming token out of circulation. The gaming token disappears in the slot and is collected and accumulates beneath the table. This accumulation of tokens causes inefficiencies in the operation of a gaming facility because the apparatus prevents the gaming facility from immediately recirculating the gaming tokens after each bet. An apparatus that keeps gaming tokens in circulation is desirable.